The General Assembly in Gothenburg voted for a new ECM president, a vice-president for the Tourism Forum and six board members. Dieter Hardt-Stremayr (Managing Director of Graz Tourist Office) was elected ECM President, Stefan Diender (Director of Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board) has become Vice-President for the Tourism Forum and Olivier Lépine (General Manager of Biarritz Tourisme) continues his mandate as Vice-President for the Convention Forum of the association. The newly elected board members are as follows: Heike Mahmoud (Berlin), André Vrydagh (Brussels), Joaquin Miranda (Gijon), Rémy Cregut (Montreux), Denis Zanon (Nice) and Charlotte Ullberg (Uppsala). Airy Garrigosa (Barcelona), Cesare Torre (Genova) and Anne Wallin-Rodven (Oslo) continue their mandates as ECM board members.
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Every change of leadership brings new people, new ideas and visions. We asked the two ECM Vice-Presidents for their vision of the future of ECM…
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The merger to become one organisation for conference and tourism cities was the best decision taken so far. Now it’s time to take the organisation itself and its members to the next level of co-operation in an increasingly globalised Europe. Looking for new opportunities to do so is one of the major challenges for the new president and board. Taking the necessary steps and decisions to make it happen is therefore “condition sine qua non”.
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Stefan Diender
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Vice-President ECM Tourism Forum
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CEO/Managing Director Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board
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ECM must be the best European platform for all convention bureaus, or tourism boards, concerned by the meeting industry. As it is a competitive industry, we should offer services and opportunities that others don’t in our training, workshops, networking etc. and we have to co-operate as much as possible in the development of the leisure tourism and meeting industry for the best interest of our destinations. Put another way, we should double our membership!
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Olivier Lépine\n
Vice-President ECM Conventions Forum
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General Manager, Biarritz Tourisme
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View all members of ECM board
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